The first piece of unsolicited advice I would offer to Britain’s incoming prime minister is: don’t take unsolicited advice. Don’t be one of those leaders who’s swayed by the last person in their ear. That’s what they used to say about Boris Johnson, that he was a cushion that bore the imprint of the last person who sat on him. Instead, Andy Burnham should study closely the experience of Johnson and the rest of his recent predecessors – and, let’s face it, there’s plenty of them.

He might start by thinking about the period that will begin the moment he steps into Downing Street on Monday. How he handles this opening phase of his tenure is crucial: you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and all that. To many voters outside Greater Manchester, Burnham is still a relatively unknown quantity. The view they will form of him will be largely shaped by what he says and does in the next few weeks. For much of the electorate, it will be the overture that decides their verdict on the show.

The obvious precedent is the most immediate. Keir Starmer ruined his own honeymoon by promising that things would only get worse. The gloom that set in during the summer of 2024 never really shifted. Admittedly, Burnham arrives without the slate-cleaning magic of a fresh mandate won in a general election, but voters do seem ready to give him a chance. There’s a recognition that seven prime ministers in 10 years is not sustainable and that, for the country’s sake, Burnham needs to succeed. That translates into a goodwill that must not be squandered.

It’s not quite the same as optimism, which, after the past decade, is in short supply. Perhaps it’s closer to hope. Either way, Burnham has to nurture it, staying true to what he said, in a speech today formally assuming the leadership of the Labour party, was his defining mission: “To bring back hope.” It helps that he has an easier, sunnier demeanour than the man he follows, but he needs to learn from Starmer’s........

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